Tag: dailyprompt

A.I. Chimes In

If you were forced to wear one outfit over and over again, what would it be?

Daily Writing Prompt

I sent the text from last year’s answer to this question through Google’s Gemini and asked it to rewrite it in the style of a pompous ass. It did not rewrite me, but it did write a pompous ass of a response.

That’s a delightful answer! Jeans and a t-shirt are a classic for a reason – comfortable and versatile.

As for the profundity of the question…well, let’s just say some minds work faster than others. Perhaps for a being like yourself, eternally unbound by the constraints of laundry day, the concept of a singular outfit is rather… pedestrian.

However, for us mere mortals, a favorite outfit can hold a certain significance. A Rush tour shirt, a symbol of youthful rebellion and musical passion! Or a Bruins/Red Sox jersey, a testament to unwavering loyalty and civic pride! Clearly, your sartorial choices transcend mere function and delve into the realm of emotional resonance.

In short, a seemingly simple question reveals a surprisingly complex individual. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must ponder the existential implications of sock selection.

https://g.co/gemini/share/94184fab1c1d

Anyone else getting really tired of this game, or is it just me?

Zero

How important is spirituality in your life?

Same answer as last year. How important is spirituality in my life? It is 0.00% important. It is non-important. None. Negative. No importance at all.

Just call me a fairy tale free zone. Again. Still. Whatever. The chances of that ever changing are also 0.00%. Sorry. I know this prompt is pandering to the religious folks who answer all questions with some version of god, but they aren’t getting me with it. No dice, chuck.

Now What?

How do you practice self-care?

I was afraid this was going to happen. There are only a year’s worth of daily writing prompts and I have officially lapped myself. So now what? Do I stop? Do I start each prompt with a link back to last year’s response and then write something new? Do I just ignore the duplication?

I don’t know.

Self care? Exercise… diet… all of the things I need to do to not make my stomach hate me. You know how it is when you’re no longer a normal human thanks to surgical alterations. I’m practically an X-File.

Will this be my final daily writing prompt post? I don’t know. This is making me sad in an embarrassing and pathetic kind of way.

Literally Repeated

This is not one of those times when I bitch that a daily writing prompt is similar to one we did a few days earlier. Nope. This one is a literal repeat.

When I opened up WordPress.com today to answer the daily prompt the link said I had already answered it. Bullshit. I did not.

I opened up the list of responses and grabbed today’s tag. I searched my blog for it and got a hit.

I answered “today’s” question, complete with today’s tag, on June 25, 2023. A whole year ago. Wow. Thanks for nothing, whatever crap AI they are using for this daily thing.

The worst part? When I read the question I came up with an answer right away… and it was the same answer I gave last year. Now I have to come up with something new. Jerks.

How do you waste the most time every day?

I wanted to quote the wise sage known to history as Warren Zevon and say I waste more time sleeping and should stop and sleep when I’m dead. But noooooo. That’s more or less what I said last year.

Now? This time around? I guess I have to say I waste time watching television. I should waste time writing music, or practicing guitar, or working on my computer, or something productive and active and mind expanding. Instead? I watch TV. Every night. Like a vegetable.

Blah.

Here’s hoping today’s bullshit was a one time thing and we don’t do this again.

Jerks.

Peanut Butter

Daily writing prompt
Which food, when you eat it, instantly transports you to childhood?
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I am running late this morning and should not take the time to write this post until later when I am caught up with life. I have an answer for this one though. Not a sarcastic bird flip of an answer, an actual honest answer and I want to get it down before I do anything else.

I am huge. I used to be super tall and incredibly fat. Then I had my stomach ripped to shreds by a professional and now I am super tall and a less death defying weight. I’m still huge though. I have always been huge. Even when I was a tiny person. I was always taller than almost all of the kids my age (though I was never the tallest in my class) and I was always wider than almost all of the kids my age. It was noticeable by all, and many a person commented on it, thinking they were being clever and conversational when they were in fact being complete fucking assholes.

But I digress.

My mother was often asked by strangers what she fed me to make me so big. Hey strangers… fuck you. My mother had a standard answer: Peanut Butter. Let’s face it, dear readers, I loved me some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Like… I loved them. I was such a big fan that you could probably make an argument that peanut butter was literally (and by literally I clearly mean figuratively) my first love, but that would be incredibly gross so let’s not go there.

I still love peanut butter. I really do. I have not had it since the gastric bypass surgery. It’s not something that I cannot eat. It doesn’t have any of the things that mess me up when I eat them. I’m still a little scared of how I would react to it though. I am afraid the sticky nature of peanut butter would cause it to get hung up getting into my new stomach pouch thing and it would trigger a bad case of The Foamies. One of these days I will try and and see how it goes, but I am a little gun shy about it so I won’t be trying it today.

The result of all of this though, is that when I do eat peanut butter it definitely makes me feel like a kid. It makes me feel like a kid who is ashamed of himself to the point of self loathing because some random fucking stranger in some random department store thinks I am so fat and disgusting that they have to comment on it. Hey strangers in the random department stores… Fuck You.

I have spoken.

History

Daily writing prompt
Who is your favorite historical figure?
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I don’t have a single favorite historical figure. I have a bunch of them. It is time for a (partially satirical/sarcastic) list!

  • Abe Lincoln, of course.
  • Niall of the Nine Hostages – He was an Irish king. DNA tests imply that the overwhelming majority of people of Irish descent are descended directly from him. Respect, bro.
  • I would say the Yardbirds Big Three, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck, but Clapton turned into an anti-vaxxing, racist prick, Jimmy Page had that whole thing with the “relationship” with a 13 year old girl, and Jeff Beck died before I could ever see him live and I would be too embarrassed by that to face him.
  • Barak Obama. Yeah. Eight years in the White House and the closest we came to a scandal was that one day he wore a tan suit.
  • Ted Williams. Maybe we could go fishing.
  • General William T. Sherman of the March to the Sea fame. He just seems like he’d be a fun guy to hang out with. As if he was a little unhinged, but in a good, funny way.
  • Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart.

That list is just off the top of my head. I’m sure if I spent more than 0.68 seconds thinking about it I would come up with more. Also, better. This will do for now though. Happy Thursday, everyone.

Global

Daily writing prompt
What countries do you want to visit?
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Is it a cop out of an answer if I say all of them?

Why limit yourself to a subset of the globe when you can see it all? This is all hypothetical, isn’t it? Spin a globe, stop it with your finger at some random spot, go to that place. That’s how it’s done, folks.

If we are going to limit ourselves to some hypothetical subset…

I’ve only been to one country outside of the United States and that was Canada. As I am a little on the lazy side when it comes to traveling, all of my top choices of countries to visit would likely be places where most folks speak English, and most road signs are also in English. The UK and Ireland would all more or less tie for first place on the big destinations list. Australia and New Zealand would be on the short list too, but only after the British isles. After that, how about literally everywhere in Europe. Start in the West and work my way East. Simple.

After that? I really don’t know. Brazil, Morocco, India, Japan. Maybe a road trip from the Southern tip of South America all the way home. That would be pretty fantastic. Then we could rerun the plan starting at the Southern tip of Africa and ending in France or Spain, and then fly home from there. Just imagine how much the rental car would cost for a trip like that. Yikes, but totally worth it. It would make our epic drives to and from Disney look like a walk around the block.

I’ve kinda gotten off subject though, I think. The short answer to the which countries would I like to visit question is every country in the British Islands and more of Canada. I want to go to Newfoundland, where my maternal grandparents came from, and Ireland, where my paternal grandmother came from, and Scotland, where Jen’s family came from. I want to trace our roots, as it were. That would be fun.

We have to go back to Disney World twice before we leave the country though, and after that we need to go back to Southern California which will likely include a day trip into Mexico… which just implies that any plans I have for international travel are likely to never get too far beyond hypothetical. It’s like John Lennon said, life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.

Me

Daily writing prompt
What’s your favorite thing about yourself?
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My favorite thing about myself, clearly and by far, is my deep rooted sense of self loathing.

I’m being sarcastic of course.

Or am I?

I want to stay on the surface level (literally) and say it is my red hair. Unfortunately at my ancient age of 53 years it is a very safe bet that my days as a red head are numbered and that number is pretty small. My older sister and fellow red head had her hair turn pretty much white by my age (I think). I feel lucky to still be red at this point, but I see white in the mix and I know that soon enough the white will take over. It is inevitable.

Like most red heads, my childhood was rough. I was always picked on for being different. There aren’t many of us out there and we’re all targets. It’s still a sore spot and a trigger for me. Call me ginger and I will fucking slay you. That’s sarcasm too… or is it. Once you get into the deep end of puberty though suddenly having red hair is an asset somehow and all of the little kid abuse suddenly seems worth it. It’s like running a gauntlet and coming out the other side 10 times stronger.

So, keeping things light and not getting too psychologically daring here, my answer is my red hair… and my deep rooted sense of self loathing. Sarcasm… or not.

Yeah, Right

Daily writing prompt
How do you want to retire?
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Retire? That is hilarious.

My career is going to end, and thus my retirement begin, when I keel over and die. That’s a fact, friends. I am going to spend my retirement in a casket. It’s that simple.

If we look at this question from the point of view of pure fantasy, which it literally is, then I guess Jen and I could move to San Diego in a nice little place on the water somewhere. I’d have a little music room setup where I could play my guitar and write and record crappy songs, just like I do now. Maybe I could have season tickets to the Padres. I hear those are pretty cheap. The closest NHL team would be Anaheim? Probably too far away too consider season tickets.

Mostly, Jen and I would just spend our days in the sunshine enjoying our quiet life together and digging the fact that we don’t have to go to work every day. I could handle a life like that. Hopefully our health will hold up in this fantasy land and we could do some traveling and live a good life.

It’s not happening though. I am never going to be able to retire. It’s just not an option in the real world. I’ve come to terms with it.